Bruges, Belgium - Friday October 16, 2015

The Judgment of Cambyses 

By 10 AM we were off for another day to see the sights of Bruges.  Yesterday we purchased a three-day museum pass that entitles us to visit many of the museums throughout Bruges.  One of our first stops today was the archaeological museum.  It was rather small and did not have a lot of exhibits. We did not stay here very long and felt this museum was more geared to children.  Next stop was to the famous GroeningeMuseum.  The Groeninge Museum, is a rather small museum, but has an extensive collection of early Flemish art from the 15th and 16th centuries.  Some of the masterpieces of Jan van Eyck, Gerard David, Roger van der Wyden among others are on display.  What fascinated me the most were the meticulous, microscopic details in these paintings.  The painters used extremely fine-pointed brushes to capture the incredible details of bearded men, wrinkled foreheads, bloodshot eyes, expressive facial emotions, intricately patterned clothes and much, much more.  I had been here in 2011 and looked so forward to returning here again.  Two of my favorite paintings in this museum are The Judgment of Cambyses painted by Gerard David in 1498, and The Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele, by Jan van Eyck around 1434-1436.  Our journey next took us to the Belfry of Bruges, the Belfort. The Belfort is a medieval bell tower in the historical centre of Bruges.  Gail and I decided to walk up the 366 steps to the top.  It was an arduous task, but the view from the top was magnificent.  Unfortunately the sky was very overcast, so we were limited in the scope of what we could see.  After our trek down the 366 steps, which was a lot easier than the walk up, we went into a small pastry shop for some pastries and coffee.  Next we headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest before meeting our friends from Florida for dinner.  For dinner, we met at Bistro Den Armand, a great restaurant that I recommended.  I had eaten here in 2011 and remembered it fondly.  We were not at all disappointed, as the food was superb and as good as I recalled, if not better.  After dinner we headed back to our hotels.  We said goodbyes to our friends and look forward to seeing them in Florida in about another three weeks.  Today was an excellent day, despite the gloomy weather.  We visited one of my favorite European museums, had delicious pastries in the afternoon, and had a great dinner with good friends from Florida. This is what life is all about ……….. good sights, good food and good friends.